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Author Topic: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS  (Read 52441 times)

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Ron Pulliam

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #150 on: July 12, 2010, 01:49:23 PM »

That's a big chimney DR DRUXY!


LOL!  I think so, too.  It must have been one huge fireplace.  As a kid, I'd have turned it into a stage, I thinik!
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Charles Pogue

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #151 on: July 12, 2010, 01:55:44 PM »

...they no longer teach handwriting in school - and boy does that explain my last helper's unbelievably childish scrawl - only printing they teach now -

My guess is that they no longer have ink wells in every desk.

Realistically, there is little use for cursive in out modern computer world. The kids are being taught compunter skills instead.

Inasmuch as schools' budget, and in some cases survival, depends on how well the kids perform on standardized tests, classroom attention is focused on mastering the data being tested - and they don't test cursive! (Grandlad's third grade teacher, moved all of the cursive modules which were strung throughout the school year, and put them in a group at the end - after the March testing.

Actually, I virtually never use cursive - I address envelopes using block letters (which the Post Office adores).

der Brucer

I've not really used cursive since I graduated college and then only for school work.  Privately, I have been printing since high school.  Still I think it probably an discipline worth learning...I hate to think that letters and documents from the 19th-20th century would suddenly need a whole new generation of scholar learning the arcane hieroglyphics of cursive to translate them.
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Jrand73

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #152 on: July 12, 2010, 01:59:52 PM »

"It's the voodoo, I tell you....it's the voodoo." Eulabelle in THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH
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Ron Pulliam

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #153 on: July 12, 2010, 02:01:31 PM »

In the small city where I grew up -- Greenville, SC -- there were many attractions, not the least of which was the city's "Main Street" on which there were no fewer than four "downtown" movie theaters, one featuring the largest CinemaScope screen in South Carolina (and it was a former vaudeville theater, to boot).   I spent many wonderful Saturdays in that theater.  Fortunately for me, the inevitable didn't happen until I moved away.  The Carolina Theater was razed so that a Hilton Hotel could be built upon the site.  I had lunch there one day in the mid-1970s with my former college roommate.  That hotel has long since been razed and another hotel structure has taken its place.  The Carolina was where I saw all the films released by 20th Century-Fox, Columbia Pictures, and United Artists.  It's where I saw the 1963 re-release of "The Robe", the 1964 re-release of "South Pacific", and where I saw "The Sound of Music" in its "Roadshow Engagement."

The Fox Theater was across the street and one block down.  I saw all my Disney features/animated classics there, plus my Universal films (all the Doris Day, Rock Hudson movies played there)...and, most important of all, it's where I saw "To Kill A Mockingbird".

Across the street from the Fox (on the same side as the Carolina) but down the street two more blocks were two older houses -- the Paris Theater and the Center Theater.  Both were named something else in their days of glory, and you could see glimmers of that glory in the interior architecture.  One had a balcony that was always closed.  Both these houses were second-run/revival houses.  One occasionally delved into soft porn/blue movies, but not very often.  All are now gone.

The neighborhoods around the city I discoverd when I began driving.   Great broad, tree-lined streets; houses with huge, generous porches/verandas/balconies; wonderful flowering shrubbery and annuals in their gardens.  At any time of the year, it was a treat just to drive through those neighborhoods.

Happily, most are still there and are being tended by a younger generation who are lovingly preserving the original concepts of those houses and yards, at least on the exterior.

The first neighborhood I lived in there is nearly identical today to what it was in 1957.  Driving through the Overbrook Park district (and part of the City's historical register now), I am able to smell the air and wood smoke and to imagine myself as I bicycled along those streets -- the same houses, the same trees (they look the same to me because I am older and taller now, as are they).  Many of the houses look the same.  The one we lived in for a couple of years is unchanged save for the side porch having been enclosed.  The picture window out of which I watched my first snowfall still looks the same.

My mom and I go back every December for a day and drive around those 'hoods and we remark how changed things look or how the same things look.  What is really strange, at times, is how certain buildings remain the same, but their functions have changed dramatically.

Most egregious change of all, however, remains the loss of the Carolina Theater.  The building where the Fox Theater was remains unchanged, but the interior has been gutted over time and the marquee removed and replaced with a store front.

Sigh.
« Last Edit: July 12, 2010, 02:05:34 PM by Ron Pulliam »
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bk

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #154 on: July 12, 2010, 02:05:28 PM »

While the problem of ADD has been around for decades, it was not anything that was as prevalent as it is today.  Sorry, but the bombardment of images and having to have something occupy every second of your existence is very much a problem of the media and the Internet age, which is why cases of ADD have, what, gone up about 10,000% since the mid-1980s.
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bk

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #155 on: July 12, 2010, 02:06:01 PM »

Back from picking up mail - three packages today - a Blu-Ray, a couple of CDs, and a book.
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DERBRUCER

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #156 on: July 12, 2010, 02:06:38 PM »

So, schools are all about these big tests now?  They used to be about learning and teaching and a variety of subjects.  Now it's all about some school district tests? 

It's not so simple - today (unlike when we were in school) the schools depend on the Federal Government for a good chunk of their funding - and that funding comes with strings attached - Assessment Tests (All part of the No Child Left Behind Program). Requiring standardized metrics to be used to help assess individual schools performance is not necessarily a bad idea; but, like many a fine idea, once the bureaucrats get finished with "refining it" and "administering it" the baby is gone and only the wash water remains. Administrator's urgings to emphasize Reading and Math was interpreted as an invitation to cancel all Arts and Humanities (Social Studies) modules.

The classroom teachers are also being placed in a ridiculous position: they are required to prepare lesson plans to match State dictated curriculum objectives, which do not track with the content being testing by the Standardized Tests. The teachers are required to use textbooks dictated by the state, which match neither the Required Curricula nor the Standardized tests. Since the Tests are administered in March, the teachers rearrange the state curricula to front-end load it with material expected to be tested and then need to figure out how to use the provided texts which do not address the specifics required.

To compound the problems, the American For Disabilities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 all provided unfunded federal mandates on the schools - extensive local funds must be diverted from their traditional uses to support these programs.

The Grandlad's third grade teacher had a class size of 22 - in order to teach the reading module, the class had to be divided into 5 separate groups based on ability.

When the younger Grandlad was starting fourth grade, he was failing his reading tests - he was basically reading at second grade level. They put him in a remedial summer course which he passed with flying colors. When my DIL noted that he was NOT reading at fourth grade level, the response was "He was one of our best students - he reads at mid-third grade level, and the others are barely at entry level. He barely scraped by fourth grade because he could not read the study material, the homework instructions, nor the test questions.

der Brucer
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MBarnum

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #157 on: July 12, 2010, 02:10:33 PM »

As for waxing nostalgic about my hometown, Medford, Oregon...it has changed a bit since I lived there. Downtown Medford used to be thriving...Woolworth's, J.C. Penney, a wonderful toy store whose name I don't recall...but I bought many Breyer's horses, matchbox cars and model car kits there, The Craterian theatre and the Holly Theatre, and Newberry's department store were all downtown. The only other shopping places in the old days were at the Medford Shopping centre and then on the other side of town at Black Bird (which is still there, I believe).

Now Medford's downtown is a ghost town, and has been since the 1980s.
Other then that, the rest of Medford is not too different then it was when I left in 1982, aside from some newer neighborhoods that have sprung up on the outskirts of town. Where I lived, out on Griffin Creek, is basically still farm land, orchards, and mountains.


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Ron Pulliam

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #158 on: July 12, 2010, 02:10:56 PM »

While the problem of ADD has been around for decades, it was not anything that was as prevalent as it is today.  Sorry, but the bombardment of images and having to have something occupy every second of your existence is very much a problem of the media and the Internet age, which is why cases of ADD have, what, gone up about 10,000% since the mid-1980s.


I certainly don't mean to make light of this subject, but I have long thought that I had a form of ADD growing up.   I know I was addicted to TV.   It was, however, a great babysitter for my folks when they wanted to go out "free of the kid" and be with other adults.

Don't misunderstand that addiction, however.  I was a voracious reader.  In class, however, I had to be creatively engaged in what was being taught or I'd while away the class hour thiking of other things.

My form of ADD was contingent upon a teacher's ability to connect with me and to engage my mind.  When I "took" to a teacher I'd leave no stone unturned in not only meeting her or his expectations but in also finding ways to surpass them.  Sometimes, the connection was immediate. 

In one case, it took about a month...and when she suggested I ought not be in her class (an advanced 10th grade English class studying novels and plays), I asked her to explain what she wanted from me.  When she took the time, after class, to tell me what I should be paying attention to in my readings, what I should be thinking of in my approach to writing about those novels and plays, a whole world opened up to me. 

"Ohhh! " I thought. "Why didn't anyone tell me this at the start?"  She thought I should have known, but I didn't  I had come to that school from a junior high school.  In 9th Grade English, I had mastered the rules of Grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, parsing, etc.  I had made my first "A" in English.  Nobody ever explained "messages", or "allegory", or "thematic references" (such as Shakespeare's use of "green" in one of his plays).

After that, my interest was unwavering and Mrs. Price, my teacher, was thrilled. 

Sadly, teachers like her were few and far between in my experience.  It left many educators puzzled as to how I could do poorly in Algebra I and make "A's" in Algebra II, or how I could be "middling" in one English class and soar in another.   The teachers responsible -- both the good ones and the so-so ones -- were never thought to have anything to do with it...it was "my whims" as one of them put it to my mother.   

Hah!
« Last Edit: July 12, 2010, 02:25:57 PM by Ron Pulliam »
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DERBRUCER

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #159 on: July 12, 2010, 02:12:26 PM »

That's because more and more postal carriers cannot read handwriting unless it's block-printed.

How many school-age children do you suppose could read out loud the Declaration of Independence in its original hand-written form?

A. The optical scan sorters like the block lettering as well.

B. How many of our Federal Officials do you think could pass your reading test?

Sad - ain't it!

der Brucer
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Druxy

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #160 on: July 12, 2010, 02:14:37 PM »

That's a big chimney DR DRUXY!

LOL!  I think so, too.  It must have been one huge fireplace.  As a kid, I'd have turned it into a stage, I thinik!

There is a funny story which (damn it) I forgot to include in my forthcoming book.

 :'(

About 2-3 blocks from our Soap Lake home was the McKay Memorial Hospital.

One night, a "crazy" women escaped from the hospital's mental ward...nude

[Sorry, I don't know if she had perky breasts or not.]

 ::)

CUT TO:

EXT. OUR HOUSE.  AROUND MIDNIGHT.

It's a hot night.  My father can't sleep, so he comes out to sit on the porch.

After awhile, he sees some people with flashlights walking around the beach, about half a block away.  (We owned the beach.)

A bit later, this woman in white  comes into our yard, calling "Barbie!  Barbie!"

My Dad is wondering, "What the hell is going on?", then from under the porch, he hears, "Here I am!" and out crawls this naked girl, who runs over to the nurse.

 :o

Boy, did my father get a razzing on that one.

I was about 10-11; slept through the whole thing.

 ;D


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MBarnum

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #161 on: July 12, 2010, 02:23:33 PM »

Some of my favorite memories of living in Central Point (from 5th grade through 8th grade--1975 to 1978) was going everywhere on my bicycle. Central Point was just a little town of about 10,000, just north of Medford. The main street had the library, a stamp and coin shop, grocery store, and pharmacy.

I would regularly ride my bike to the library, where I checked out my first books on movie stars...bios of Jack Benny and Judy Garland.

At the pharmacy I would bUy many Aurora model kits...either of vintage cars or the monster model kits and get my monthly issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND.

And, as I collected both stamps and coins, I made many trips to that shop.

Central Point was just the right size to be able to ride your bike anywhere.
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MBarnum

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #162 on: July 12, 2010, 02:25:25 PM »

BK, what you think of as ADD, is not ADD.
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Cillaliz

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #164 on: July 12, 2010, 02:26:45 PM »

A Very Happy Birthday to DR Cillaliz!! ;D

Thanks George
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Cillaliz

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #165 on: July 12, 2010, 02:28:19 PM »

That's my father in front our family summer home in Soap Lake, WA, circa early-1950s.

We had some happy times there.



Cool house!!!
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Cillaliz

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #166 on: July 12, 2010, 02:28:39 PM »

Happy Birthday, DR Cillaliz!

Thanks Kevin!
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Cillaliz

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #167 on: July 12, 2010, 02:29:39 PM »

But I am not too grumpy to wish DR Cillaliz a fantastic and wonderful birthday! Have a fun day, Priscilla!!







Thanks MBarnum!! I Love it.
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Cillaliz

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #168 on: July 12, 2010, 02:30:00 PM »

Happy Birthday, CillaLiz!

Thanks Ron!
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Jrand73

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #169 on: July 12, 2010, 02:31:00 PM »

This used to be the Ritz Theatre where I saw TARANTULA and FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN in re-release and SUMMER MAGIC and THE PARENT TRAP.

It is now, of course, the office the Mooresville Times weekly newspaper.
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elmore3003

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #170 on: July 12, 2010, 02:33:24 PM »

ADD has nothing whatsoever to do with MTV, internet, movies or anyother thing of that sort. It is a medical condition that has been around forever, but only recently recognized. So enough of that ridiculousness, OK.

I assume this is from the voice of experience?
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elmore3003

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #171 on: July 12, 2010, 02:34:49 PM »

My grand-niece is learning cursive in her first grade class, so I can't figure out where you are finding this information that cursive is no longer taught.

I rarely write in cursive, anymore. I don't know why. Frankly, I don't see why it should even matter. My only concern would be whether I could read someone's writing or not.

Is it because crayon looks better in print than cursive?

Oy! Mel Gibson is behaving like an asshole again. This man is truly pathetic.
« Last Edit: July 12, 2010, 04:27:49 PM by elmore3003 »
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Cillaliz

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #172 on: July 12, 2010, 02:36:15 PM »

We had a wonderful old theater that was a vaudeville theater in it's day, The Grand.  I used to go to movies there. We'd sneak up into the balcony, make noise and get in lots of trouble.   It's gone now.  Torn down. That's sad.
« Last Edit: July 12, 2010, 02:40:07 PM by Cillaliz »
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elmore3003

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #173 on: July 12, 2010, 02:37:02 PM »

I just got an email from a frend asking if he received my package this weekend. I guess the Post Office is really screwing up because I have no idea where it may be!
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Cillaliz

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #174 on: July 12, 2010, 02:38:40 PM »

Not to be one to complain....Since it wasn't in the notes I'm going to the store to get pointy hats and cheese and ham chunks so we can celebrate my birthday in style!
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DERBRUCER

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #175 on: July 12, 2010, 02:39:19 PM »

ADD has nothing whatsoever to do with MTV, internet, movies or anyother thing of that sort. It is a medical condition that has been around forever, but only recently recognized. So enough of that ridiculousness, OK.

Yes,.....but.....

Since the definition of ADD in the 1980's there seems to be a marked increase in the incidence of the condition.

Some of that increase is no doubt because of:

A. Greater awareness of the condition

B. Eagerness to classify kids with ADD to support eligibility for various programs.

C. Some increase due to yet undetermined causative factors.

Our inability to separate "C" from "A and B" makes finding and evaluating the factors problematic.

I remember my first born was sent home from Kindergarden with and ADD diagnosis and a suggestion he be put on medication.

"Robert can not sit still"

"Robert can not complete assigned tasks"

"Robert can not remain still for nap time".

My response:

No, Dear Lady you are wrong!   

Robert does not want to sit still, Robert has little or no interest in completing your boring assignments, and Robert definitely has no desire to take naps. Robert does not need medication, he needs stimulation and discipline.

(Robert used to eagerly await the arrival of each issue of the Time-Life Books Nature series. He would grab the book and disappear into his room to pour over this new treasure. We had to pry the book out of his hands and make him eat dinner, then back to his room he went - not to be seen or heard from again until the book was finished.) ADD, indeed!

der Brucer
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DERBRUCER

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #176 on: July 12, 2010, 02:53:54 PM »


Gee, I wonder what would happen to these young folks if (God forbid) all power and electronics were somehow destroyed.

They would be totally incapacitated.

Unfortunately, because of our modernized, computerized, environment, we would (most) all be totally asea. We need the high-tech goodies to move the goods and support the services we have come to depend upon for daily existence.

Remeber, it is the hi-tech gadgets that keep the planes from crashing to earth on your house.

der Brucer

(And the kids who don't know cursive can't milk a cow, either!)
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Charles Pogue

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #177 on: July 12, 2010, 02:57:19 PM »

I don't know from Attention Deficit Disorder.  But I see an inability to concentrate and certain voracious impatience when it comes having to focus on one thing for any length of time.  I attribute it to the bombardment of stimuli from most media sources be it TV, rock videos, or the internet.  We are learning to absorb image without content...which to me seems pretty pointless.  I don't think it's the amount of stimuli you absorb that's important,  but the quality and depth of the stimuli you're absorbing.  And maybe stimuli is the wrong word here.  I think we're way overstimulated; we're entertainng ourselves to death and have an inability to disconnect from our technological diversions.
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DERBRUCER

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #178 on: July 12, 2010, 02:57:21 PM »

This is the best weather to scour the net for potential Christmas purchases:


For Laura:



For BK



For Edisaurus



der Brucer
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elmore3003

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Re: LA - THE CITY THAT WAS
« Reply #179 on: July 12, 2010, 03:00:47 PM »

I forgot to mention how wonderful my meeting with Andy went. I hadn't seen him since 1993 when he stopped wrking for The Drama Book Shop, but he says it was 1998 at a Men's Chorus concert. We spent a wonderful two hours catching up and it was great to reconnect.
« Last Edit: July 12, 2010, 04:28:20 PM by elmore3003 »
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